He did have the option to overpower all opposition with force, but he still had to rely on the Pele trio for the cave match. If their hearts weren't in it, their chances of victory would turn even more minuscule, practically giving away the Diamond Quarter for free.

Elder Lo was silent for a long time before he slowly turned towards the prince and asked, "Ezra, what do you think?"

An almost undetectable pleased look rose from the corners of Pele's mouth when he heard this. Elder Lo was evidently unable to ignore the objection from so many disciples, causing his previous insistence to waver a little.

Pele's gaze swept past Ezra from the corner of his eye as he icily chuckled in his heart.

This kid was too much of a greenhorn. Did you really believe that you could ignore the rules just because Elder Lo has high hopes for you? Swatting you down is as easy as flipping my hand.

Everything that had happened today was clearly the result of Pele's handiwork. 

Under the numerous watching gazes, Ezra's expression remained calm from start to end.

Truthfully speaking, though he was indeed a little interested in the Diamond Quarter, it had not reached the stage where he absolutely needed to have it.

However, Pele's hostility and actions triggered the prince a little.

He surmised that the various happenings today were most likely orchestrated by Pele, all for the sake of trying to keep the prince down.

He tilted his head and smirked at Pele with an icy gaze.

Upon detecting Ezra's gaze, the corners of Pele's lips rose slightly in contempt as he nonchalantly said, "Junior brother Ezra, one should eat one mouthful at a time, or take things step by step. The repercussions of attempting to reach the sky in a single leap are usually far too great.

Listen to your senior brother and train properly for a year or two first. By that time, it will probably be easier for you to entertain such thoughts."

Ezra merely smiled without commenting, and said, "According to the rules, I'm currently the third seat, while you're the fourth seat. You should be calling me senior brother instead."

Pele's face twisted as he let out a mocking, icy chuckle.

The prince ignored the former, raising his head as he said, "Elder Lo, I feel that following the rules may not be a bad thing."

James immediately smiled when he heard this and said, "It's great that junior brother Ezra thinks so."

Elder Lo slowly said, "You intend to give up on the Diamond Quarter?"

Pele laughed happily. Looks like Ezra could not handle the pressure, and knew that he still did not have the qualifications to own a Diamond Quarter.

However, Ezra chuckled as he shook his head. "Didn't junior brother Pele say earlier that according to the rules, the Diamond Quarter should be given to one of the three participants?

Since that is the case, I volunteer to participate. Please allow me to become one of the three representatives for the quarter-match."

Since Pele was being so overbearing, Ezra was not someone who shows mercy.

~UPROAR~

Ezra's words instantly caused the entire hall to explode into noise.

The smile on Pele's face turned slightly rigid. Soon after, the mocking look on his lips grew even wider as he pointed at Ezra and said,

"Ezra ah Ezra, you really are cluelessly arrogant!" Pele mumbled and said. "Do you believe the quarter match is the same as the peak selection ceremony?"

He shook his head and stared at Ezra with cold eyes.

"I'll be blunt, you still do not possess the qualifications to participate in the quarter-match. You may want to go there and humiliate yourself but we do not!"

When Ezra's words landed in the giant hall, it immediately drew a wave of stunned gazes. No one had even considered that he would plan on participating in the cave match.

One must know that although the diamond belt disciples from both sides were no longer able to participate, the disciples sent would be the elites of the gold belt. Though Ezra was also a gold belt disciple, he was after all far too new, and there was still a tremendous gap between him and the older disciples.

Ezra surely trampled Drake Tubble despite being weaker by 3 levels, there was no doubt that his power and martial prowess is at the level of top genius.

However, he was currently in the Alchemic Rune Peak. His power and powerful spiritual techniques are meaningless here, what matters is his proficiency in alchemy.

As such, many felt that Ezra basically did not qualify to participate in the contest of quarters. Hence why Pele could not help but mock the former after hearing his words.

However, Ezra ignored the mockery and the sceptical gazes, only looking straight at Elder Lo with a calm expression.

Elder Lo had likewise been stunned, Ezra Zephyr's actions clearly out of his expectations. Soon after, he began to frown. At the end of the day, what he valued in Ezra was the latter's potential.

Amongst the new disciples was a member of Bloodfang Kingdom, he was none other than Gill Subzi and he knew that although Ezra had managed to defeat the 5th level Core Formation expert Drake Tubble in the peak selection ceremony, he has never practised alchemy.

If any other ordinary disciple had said such words, Elder Lo would have berated him or her long ago. However, Ezra Zephyr was after all somewhat different from the rest.

Hence, Elder Lo did not rebuke Ezra's behaviour, and merely said, "Ezra, you don't have to force yourself. There is no need to compete with others for the time being. Given your talent, you will surely begin to truly stand out after a year or two."

Although he did have high hopes for Ezra, Elder Lo believed that the former had only said those words in the heat of the moment.

"In addition… this matter affects the face of our faction, and we cannot afford to make any reckless decisions."

Pele cooly looked at Ezra Zephyr upon hearing this.